Ladybug Math Game

My girls love ladybugs. We’ve started spotting some in our yard recently, so I thought we’d have a little fun with a ladybug theme for this month’s Virtual Book Club for Kids. This ladybug math game can be adapted for toddlers, preschoolers, and children in early elementary school. It incorporates scooping, pouring, sensory play, and math.

FIND EVEN MORE LADYBUG IDEAS IN OUR PRINTABLE LADYBUG THEME LESSON PLANS.

The Virtual Book Club for Kids is reading books by Mem Fox this month.  Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug! was a perfect choice for my ladybug loving girls. Tinker especially loved hide and seek aspect of this book. She asked to reread the book over and over again, and each time she was just as excited to find the ladybug hiding on each page.

Preparation

I decided to build on that enthusiasm with our own twist on a ladybug hide and seek game. To prepare the math game I placed split peas in a large bowl. Then I added ten small ladybug toys. If you don’t have any, you could also use red buttons or red glass gems to represent ladybugs.  I cut two leaf shapes out of green craft foam, and set everything out with a scoop and a tray.

Counting Math Game

For kids learning to count and practicing one-to-one correspondence play a “scoop and seek” game. Get a big scoop from the large bowl and pour it into the tray. Then add the ladybugs to the leaf. Touch each ladybug while counting aloud.

You can either add the ladybugs back in each time, or keep them out and continue playing until you’ve found all of the ladybugs. Tinker loved this version.

Comparing Math Game

To practice comparing numbers, add another leaf so that there are two. This time the ladybugs from the first scoop to the first leaf and the ladybugs found in the second scoop to the second leaf. Compare the two numbers. Discuss math vocabulary like more, less, greater, fewer, as many as, and equal.

Addition Math Game

Add a writing utensil and recording sheet of some sort to the comparing math game materials and you can practice recording addition sentences to go along with the activity. See how many different addition sentences kids can find.

Playing with a Partner

Both the comparing and addition games work well with a partner. Each child can have their own leaf. As they each scoop and count they can either compare the amounts or develop an addition sentence to go along the amounts.

You can also continue the ladybug math fun by practicing one more and one less with our free printable activity set here.

MORE LADYBUG THEME FUN WITH PRINTABLE LESSON PLANS

Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.

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Preschool Ladybug  Theme Lesson Plans

Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.

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Home Preschool Insect Theme Lesson Plans

Preschool Classroom Insect Theme Lesson Plans

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More Math and Science Activities with Fizz, Pop, Bang!

Fizz, Pop, Bang! Playful Science and Math Activities is designed to bring hands-on fun to math and science play. It’s full of engaging and powerful learning opportunities in math and science, shared through ideas that incorporate art, play, sensory learning and discovery, for a whole-brain approach.

It includes 40 educational projects and 20 printables including a set of build-your-own 3D shape blocks, engineering challenge cards and a range of math games.

Learn more about Fizz, Pop, Bang! or you can buy it now!